Howard Hildebrandt v. E. B. Swope, Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz, California

On June 4, 1952, appellant, Howard Hildebrandt, and Robert LaPlante were indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, hereafter called the Rhode Island court. The indictment was in four counts. Count 1 charged a violation of 18 U.S. C.A. § 371, count 2 charged a violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 2111 , and counts 3 and 4 charged other offenses. On June 9, 1952, appellant and LaPlante pleaded not guilty to all counts of the indictment. On June 24, 1952, they withdrew their pleas of not guilty and pleaded guilty to counts 1 and 2, and counts 3 and 4 were dismissed. Thereupon, on June 24, 1952, the Rhode Island court entered a judgment sentencing each of them to be imprisoned for five years on count 1 and fifteen years on count 2, the sentences to run consecutively. Accordingly, appellant was and is imprisoned in the United States penitentiary at Alcatraz, California, in custody of the warden thereof.

On April 6, 1953, appellant and LaPlante filed in the Rhode Island court a motion entitled “Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence” — a motion under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 . On May 20, 1953, the Rhode Island court entered an order denying the motion of…